AFL umpire Simon Meredith on the mend after major health scare

Simon Meredith felt fine, when he flew to Sydney two weeks ago to umpire the Swans’ game against Port Adelaide. He slept well, ate breakfast, watched some soccer on television, headed to the ground and warmed up well. It wasn’t until late in the first quarter that he was struck by a sudden, intense and horribly painful headache that made it hurt to run, bounce the ball or even blow his whistle. A few hours later he was in the emergency department at Prince of Wales hospital being told he might have an aneurysm and that if he did, he might not get to go home.

‘‘I went from thinking, ‘there’s a chance I might not ever umpire again to, I might not ever see my family again’,’’ said Meredith, who had to lie with that news until the next morning when an angiogram and MRI assured him and his doctors he was not going to die. ‘‘It wasn’t a very good night. I kept thinking, ‘this isn’t right, this can’t be happening, how am I going to get out of here?’’

The news wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but nor was it a let-off. Meredith was diagnosed with bleeding on his brain, a subarachnoid hemorrhage that he has been told could not not have been prevented and has as much chance of happening to him again as it does to anyone else. He spent a week in Sydney, mostly in intensive or high care. It took more than 48 hours for the headache to start subsiding, he barely moved for a week and was so unwell that he couldn’t even change out of his umpiring gear for two days. Flown back to Melbourne at the end of last week, he needed to spend another few days in hospital before he was allowed home.

He is on the mend and was able to drop by umpires training this week to say hello, sit for 20 minutes on an exercise bike and get some physio treatment: spending 11 days in bed has not been good for his back or leg muscles, and he has woken up with slight headaches this week. The grand final umpire is not certain when he will be back, but was told he could do what his body allowed him to and that he should be able to umpire again within a month of the haemorrhage. For now, he is taking things easy, ‘‘building up slowly, doing some light exercise, seeing how I feel. I’m hoping to be back in the next few weeks, but I’ll need some more checks before that.’’

Having never suffered from headaches, Meredith felt like he had been whacked on the back of the head when the haemorrhage happened. It was an acute, sharp, unfamiliar pain. He kept umpiring, took some paracetamol at the quarter and half-time breaks and stayed at one end waiting for the drugs to kick in while fellow umpires Ben Ryan and Scott Jeffery took all the bounces and covered the busier middle part of the ground.

He can remember the whole game and was still able to think and see clearly. Watching it back in the last few days, he couldn’t spot any mistakes, but his head hurt so much it was almost impossible to run, and the first time he blew his whistle there was so much pressure at the back of his head that it felt like it might explode. ‘‘By that stage I was definitely starting to think, ‘what the hell is this?’’’

Still, it wasn’t until five minutes into the last term that he had no choice but to stop, staggering across the boundary line and starting to throw up within 30 seconds. His place, incidentally, was taken by emergency umpire Brent Pawley, a rookie who hadn’t worked a single AFL game when he stepped into one of the hottest ones of the year. Neither Meredith’s predicament nor Pawley’s debut were noticed by commentators, which Meredith considers a compliment to them both. ‘‘I think everyone there was absorbed in the game, but it’s good that no one noticed. That’s what we’re all about.’’

He is grateful for the support of Ryan, Jeffery and the Sydney and Port Adelaide doctors who helped him out. His parents happened to be in town to watch the game, and were there when he had to ring his wife Leiza and let her know what had happened. He put, she said, ‘‘a positive spin on it, like Simon always does, but it was frightening. That night it just felt like a big shock, but waking up the next morning it was, ‘OK, what’s going on? What are they going to do? Is he going to be all right?’’

Meredith is still positive, happy to be back home with Leiza, daughter Darcy and son Hamish and looking forward to umpiring again as soon as he is ready. ‘‘The doctors kept saying, you don’t know how lucky you are, ’’ he said. ‘‘The next time I have 10 days off, hopefully I’m in Fiji. With no headaches! It’s been an interesting little adventure, but the worst is over now.’’